The Effects of Media Messages on Attitude Formation in Females

Abstract

This study examined the effects of exposure to both sexualized images and performance pictures of famous female athletes on potential risk factors for eating disorders in college women. Both the pilot study (Study 1) (N=29) and the main study (Study 2) (N=94) were administered to cohorts of undergraduate females aged 18-22 at Princeton University. It was hypothesized that the sexualized athlete images would prompt higher scores on body dissatisfaction, the fear of negative evaluations, sociocultural attitudes towards appearance, and appearance self-esteem ratings. Based on a series of 2x2 mixed factorial ANOVAs, it was demonstrated that there were no significant differences in the risk factor variables after exposure to the sexualized athlete images when compared to the performance athlete images. The present findings highlight the fact that the effects of media visual images within the greater sociocultural model are still unknown. Based on these results, ideas for further research and implications for interventions are also discussed.